The twentieth century was characterized by a significant acceleration of sociocultural change. A gigantic shift has taken place in the “nature-society-man” system, where an important role is now played by culture, understood as an intellectual, ideal, and artificially created material environment, which not only ensures the existence and comfort of a person in the world, but also creates a number of problems . Another important change in this system was the ever-increasing pressure of people and society on nature. For the 20th century The world's population has grown from 1.4 billion to 6 billion, while over the previous 19 centuries of our era it increased by 1.2 billion people. Serious changes are taking place in the social structure of the population of our planet. Currently, only 1 billion people (the so-called "golden billion") live in developed countries and take full advantage of the achievements of modern culture, and 5 billion people from developing countries suffering from hunger, disease, poor education, form a "global pole of poverty", opposing the "pole of prosperity". Moreover, the trends in fertility and mortality make it possible to predict that by 2050-2100, when the population of the Earth reaches 10 billion people. (Table 18) (according to modern concepts, this is the maximum number of people that our planet can feed), the population of the "pole of poverty" will reach 9 billion people, and the population of the "pole of well-being" will remain unchanged. At the same time, each person living in developed countries exerts 20 times more pressure on nature than a person from developing countries.
Table 18
Number of world population (million people) 
Source: Yatsenko N. E. Dictionary social science terms. SPb., 1999. S. 520.
Sociologists associate the globalization of social and cultural processes and the emergence of world problems with the presence of limits to the development of the world community.
Sociologists-globalists believe that the limits of the world are determined by the very finiteness and fragility of nature. These limits are called external (Table 19).
For the first time, the problem of external limits to growth was raised in a report to the Club of Rome (non-governmental international organization, created in 1968) "The Limits to Growth", prepared under the direction of D. Meadows.
The authors of the report, using a computer model of global changes for calculations, came to the conclusion that the unlimited growth of the economy and the pollution caused by it by the middle of the 21st century. lead to economic disaster. To avoid it, the concept of "global balance" with nature was proposed, with a constant population and "zero" industrial growth.
According to other globalist sociologists (E. Laszlo, J. Bierman), the limiters of the economy and the sociocultural development of mankind are not external, but internal limits, the so-called sociopsychological limits, which manifest themselves in the subjective activity of people (see Table 19).
Table 19 Limits of human development 
Proponents of the concept of internal limits to growth believe that the solution to global problems lies in the ways of increasing the responsibility of politicians who take important decisions, and improving social forecasting. The most reliable tool for solving global problems, according to E. Toffler, should be considered knowledge and the ability to withstand the ever-increasing pace of social change, as well as delegating resources and responsibility to those floors, levels where the relevant problems are solved. Of great importance is the formation and dissemination of new universal values and norms, such as the security of people and societies, of all mankind; freedom of activity of people both within the state and outside it; responsibility for the conservation of nature; availability of information; respect by the authorities public opinion; humanization of relations between people, etc.
Global problems can only be solved by joint efforts of state and public, regional and world organizations. All world problems can be differentiated into three categories (Table 20).
The most dangerous challenge to mankind in the XX century. there were wars. Only two world wars, which lasted more than 10 years in total, claimed about 80 million human lives and caused material damage of more than 4 trillion 360 billion dollars (Table 21).
Table 20
Global problems 
Table 21
The most important indicators of the First and Second World Wars 
After the Second World War, there were about 500 armed conflicts. More than 36 million people died in local battles, most of them were civilians.
And in just 55 centuries (5.5 thousand years), mankind has survived 15 thousand wars (so that people lived in peace for no more than 300 years). More than 3.6 billion people died in these wars. Moreover, with the development of weapons in combat clashes, an increasing number of people (including civilians) died. Losses especially increased with the beginning of the use of gunpowder (Table 22).
Table 22 
Nevertheless, the arms race continues to this day. Only after the Second World War, military spending (for 1945-1990) amounted to more than 20 trillion dollars. Today, military spending is more than $800 billion a year, that is, $2 million per minute. More than 60 million people serve or work in the armed forces of all states. 400 thousand scientists are engaged in the improvement and development of new weapons - these studies absorb 40% of all R & D funds, or 10% of all human expenditure. A diploma to order is what you need.
Currently, the environmental problem comes first, which includes such unresolved issues as:
land desertification. Currently, deserts occupy about 9 million square meters. km. Every year, deserts "capture" more than 6 million hectares of land developed by man. A total of 30 million sq. km of inhabited territory, which is 20% of all land;
deforestation. Over the past 500 years, 2/3 of forests have been cleared out by man, and 3/4 of forests have been destroyed in the entire history of mankind. Every year, 11 million hectares of forest land disappear from the face of our planet;
pollution of reservoirs, rivers, seas and oceans;
"the greenhouse effect;
ozone holes.
As a result of the combined action of all these factors, the productivity of land biomass has already decreased by 20%, and some animal species have become extinct. Mankind is forced to take measures to protect nature. Others are no less poignant global problems.
Do they have solutions? The solution to these acute problems of the modern world may lie on the paths of scientific and technological progress, socio-political reforms and changes in the relationship between man and the environment (Table 23).
Table 23 Ways to solve global problems 
Scientists under the auspices of the Club of Rome are engaged in the search for a conceptual solution to global problems. The second report (1974) of this non-governmental organization (“Humanity at the Crossroads”, authors M. Mesarevich and E. Pestel) spoke of the “organic growth” of the world economy and culture as a single organism, where each part plays its role and uses that share of common goods, which correspond to its role and ensure the further development of this part in the interests of the whole.
In 1977, the third report to the Club of Rome was published under the title "International Order Revisited". Its author J. Tinbergen saw a way out in the creation of global institutions that would control global socio-cultural and economic processes. According to the scientist, it is planned to create a world treasury, a world food administration, a world administration for technological development and other institutions that would resemble ministries in their functions; on a conceptual level, such a system presupposes the existence of a world government.
In the subsequent works of the French globalists M. Guernier "The Third World: Three Quarters of the World" (1980), B. Granotier "For a World Government" (1984) and others, the idea of a global center governing the world was further developed.
A more radical position in relation to global governance is taken by the international public movement of mondialists (International Registration of World Citizens, IRWC), which was created in 1949 and advocates the creation of a world state.
In 1989, in a report International Commission the UN environment and development under the chairmanship of H. H. Brundtland "Our Common Future", the concept of "sustainable development" was created, which "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
In the 1990s the idea of a world government is giving way to projects of global cooperation among states with the vital role of the UN. This concept was formulated in the report of the Commission on Global Governance and Cooperation of the United Nations "Our Global Neighborhood" (1996).
Nowadays, the concept of “global civil society” is gaining more and more importance. It means all the people of the Earth who share universal human values, who actively solve global problems, especially where national governments are not capable of doing this.
Questions for self-control
List possible ways development of society. Some entire diplomas are written about this.
Name the main theories of progress.
Indicate the main, essential features of the Marxist view of the development of society.
What is a Formative Approach?
How does W. Rostow's approach differ from the Marxist one?
List the main stages economic growth in the theory of W. Rostow.
Describe an industrial society.
What approaches exist in the theory of post-industrial society?
What are the signs of a post-industrial society (according to D. Bell)?
How has its social structure changed (according to D. Bell)?
List the features of Z. Brzezinski's technotronic society and compare them with the features of D. Bell's post-industrial culture.
How does O. Toffler's approach to studying the "third wave" society differ from the approaches of his predecessors?
How do proponents of cyclical theories see social life?
What is a civilizational approach?
What is the essence of the theory of N. Ya. Danilevsky?
What is common and what is the difference between the theories of N. Ya. Danilevsky and O. Spengler?
What new things did A. Toynbee introduce into the theory of "cyclism"?
What are the main criteria for the development of society?
What criterion is used in their theories by N. Berdyaev and K. Jaspers?
What is the essence of the theory of "long waves" N. D. Kondratiev?
Compare the wave theories of N. Yakovlev and A. Yanov.
What are the criteria for fluctuations in social life in the theories of A. Schlesinger, N. McCloskey and D. Zahler?
What is the essence of P. Sorokin's concept of changing socio-cultural supersystems? How did R. Ingelhart supplement it?
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Globalization is a term for a situation of change in all aspects of society's life under the influence of a global trend towards interdependence and openness. G. is a recognition of the growing interdependence of the modern world, the main consequence of which is a significant weakening (some researchers even insist on destruction) of national state sovereignty under the pressure of the actions of other subjects of the modern world process - primarily transnational corporations and other transnational entities, for example, international companies, financial institutions, ethnic diasporas, religious movements, mafia groups, etc.
G. is a complex trend in the development of the modern world, affecting its economic, political, cultural, but primarily information and communication aspects.
Globalization sociocultural processes and phenomena of different directions forms a single world, a single information and educational space, promotes interpenetration and mutual enrichment of cultures. Culture is the environment in which a person finds himself from the moment of his birth, surrounds him with his specific objects and ways of acting with them (cultural facts), sets the foundations for his “pro-images”.
Since the end of the 20th century, globalization has increasingly manifested itself as a sociocultural phenomenon. This is due to the emergence of a number of relatively new trends in the development of culture in the context of globalization:
1) an increase in the speed and scale of sociocultural changes in general;
2) the dominance of integrative tendencies in culture against the background of the aggravation of the tendencies of its differentiation and diversification in various social systems;
3) increasing the intensity of cultural interactions in the information society;
4) the onset of Western culture, often in very aggressive forms (cultural expansion, Westernization);
5) the growth of the cultural industry in connection with the emergence of TNCs in the production of cultural goods and services;
6) strengthening the influence of globalization on the value-normative foundations of national cultures in the process of modernization of societies;
7) globalization of symbols and universals of culture, especially mass culture;
8) the aggravation of the need for cultural identification in these conditions;
9) expansion of influence in English in modern means of communication and communication.
In particular, under these conditions, mass culture not only corrects its traditional anti-entropic function, but also sometimes threatens the implementation of cultural identity in the conditions of unification of values, language, standardization and universalization of lifestyle (clothing, life, information), music, cinema, fashion, etc. e. The dominant (globalizing) culture, using its technological and information superiority, imposes its values, norms and standards on other cultures. This leads to the leveling of national characteristics, the cultural "recoding" of the life of many countries and peoples. All this determines the acute practical relevance of the topic under consideration.
Awareness of global problems was quite clearly manifested at the beginning of the 20th century. This happened at a certain stage in the development of mankind - mankind realized the unity and indivisibility of earthly life. The essence of global problems is that humanity, through its activities, violates the balance of the biosphere and the mechanisms of its self-regulation.
Globalistics is a complex scientific direction that studies the manifestations, origins, as well as ways and means of solving global problems.
Global problems - problems and situations that affect the living conditions and activities of people, contain a threat to the present and future. These problems cannot be solved by the forces of one country; they require jointly worked out actions.
Global problems:
1. POLITICAL
Prevention of nuclear war;
Ensuring sustainable development of the world community;
Preservation of the world, etc.
2. SOCIAL CHARACTER
demographic problem;
Interethnic relations;
Crisis of culture, morality;
Democracy deficit;
Health protection, etc.
3. NATURAL AND ECONOMIC CHARACTER
Ecological; - Raw materials, etc.
Energy;
the oceans;
food;
4. MIXED CHARACTER
Regional conflicts;
Terrorism;
Technological accidents, etc.
Features of global problems:
- Universal character
- Have planetary scales of manifestation
- They are characterized by the severity of manifestation
- influence the future of humanity species
- They are characterized by extraordinary dynamism
- Are complex
All global problems are closely related to each other (see figure). Demographic and food problems are connected both with each other and with environmental protection. Family planning in some countries will make it possible to quickly free ourselves from hunger and malnutrition, and the progress of agriculture will ease the pressure on the environment. Food and resource problems are associated with overcoming the backwardness of developing countries. Improved nutrition and a more sensible use of resource potential lead to higher living standards, and so on.
Globalization- a term for a situation of change in all aspects of society's life under the influence of a global trend towards interdependence and openness.
The main consequence of this is the global division of labor, global migration of capital, human and production resources, standardization of legislation, economic and technological processes, as well as convergence of cultures of different countries. This is an objective process that is systemic in nature, that is, it covers all spheres of society.
Globalization is connected, first of all, with the internationalization of the entire social activities on the ground. This internationalization means that in the modern era all mankind is included in a single system of social, cultural, economic, political and other connections, interactions and relations.
Globalization can be viewed as integration at the macro level, that is, as the convergence of countries in all areas: economic, political, social, cultural, technological, etc.
Globalization has both positive and negative features that affect the development of the world community.
The positive ones include rejection of the obedient subordination of the economy to the political principle, a decisive choice in favor of a competitive (market) model of the economy, the recognition of the capitalist model as the "optimal" socio-economic system. All this, at least theoretically, made the world more homogeneous and allowed us to hope that the relative uniformity of the social structure would help eliminate poverty and poverty, and smooth out economic inequality in the world space.
In the early 1990s many followers of the idea of global liberalization appeared in the West. Its authors believe that globalization is one of the forms of the neoliberal development model that directly or indirectly affects the domestic and foreign policies of all countries of the world community.
In their opinion, such a model of development may turn out to be "the end point of the ideological evolution of mankind", "the final form of human government, and as such represents the end of history." Preachers of such a course of development believe that "the ideal of liberal democracy cannot be improved," and humanity will develop along this only possible path.
Representatives of this trend in political science and sociology believe that modern technologies make it possible to accumulate wealth without limit and satisfy ever-growing human needs. And this should lead to the homogenization of all societies, regardless of their historical past and cultural heritage. All countries that carry out economic modernization on the basis of liberal values will become more and more like each other, drawing closer with the help of the world market and the spread of a universal consumer culture.
This theory has some practical evidence. The development of computerization, fiber optics, the improvement of the communication system, including satellite, allows humanity to move towards an open society with a liberal economy.
However, the idea of the world as a homogeneous socio-economic space, driven by a single motivation and regulated by "universal values", is largely simplified. Politicians and scientists in developing countries have serious doubts about the Western model of development. In their opinion, neoliberalism leads to a growing polarization of poverty and wealth, to environmental degradation, to the fact that rich countries are gaining more and more control over the world's resources.
In the social sphere, globalization involves the creation of a society that should be based on respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, on the principle of social justice.
There is little opportunity for developing countries and countries with economies in transition to achieve the level of material well-being of rich countries. The neoliberal model of development does not allow even the basic needs of the vast masses of the population to be met.
The growing socio-economic and cultural gap between the upper and lower strata of the world community becomes even more obvious if we compare the incomes of individual the richest people planets with the income of entire countries.
Manifestations of globalization in the sphere of culture:
1) the transformation of the planet into a "global village" (M. McLuhan), when millions of people, thanks to funds mass media almost instantly become witnesses of events taking place in different corners globe;
2) involvement of people living in different countries and on different continents, to the same cultural experience (Olympiads, concerts);
3) unification of tastes, perceptions, preferences (Coca-Cola, jeans, soap operas);
4) direct acquaintance with the way of life, customs, norms of behavior in other countries (through tourism, work abroad, migration);
5) the emergence of the language of international communication - English;
6) widespread distribution of unified computer technologies, the Internet;
7) "erosion" of local cultural traditions, their replacement by mass consumer culture of the Western type
Challenges and threats caused by globalization:
It should be noted that in recent years, economic aspects have become increasingly important in globalization. Therefore, some researchers, speaking of globalization, have in mind only its economic side. In principle, this is a one-sided view of a complex phenomenon. At the same time, an analysis of the process of development of global economic ties makes it possible to identify some features of globalization as a whole.
Globalization has also affected the social sphere, although the intensity of these processes largely depends on the economic capabilities of the integrated constituent parts. Social rights, previously available to the population of only developed countries, are gradually being adopted for their citizens by developing countries. In everything more countries, civil societies, a middle class are emerging, social norms of the quality of life are being unified to some extent.
A very noticeable phenomenon over the past 100 years has been the globalization of culture based on the enormous growth of cultural exchange between countries, the development of the mass culture industry, the leveling of the tastes and predilections of the public. This process is accompanied by the erasure of national features of literature and art, the integration of elements of national cultures into the emerging universal cultural sphere. The globalization of culture was also a reflection of the cosmopolitanization of being, linguistic assimilation, the spread of the English language around the planet as a global means of communication, and other processes.
Like any complex phenomenon, globalization has both positive and negative sides. Its consequences are associated with obvious successes: the integration of the world economy contributes to the intensification and growth of production, the mastering of technical achievements by backward countries, the improvement of the economic condition of developing countries, and so on. Political integration helps prevent military conflicts, ensure relative stability in the world, and do many other things in the interests of international security. Globalization in the social sphere stimulates huge shifts in the minds of people, the spread of democratic principles of human rights and freedoms. The list of achievements of globalization covers various interests from a personal nature to the world community.
However, there are also a large number negative consequences. They manifested themselves in the form of the so-called global problems of mankind.
Global issues are universal difficulties and contradictions in the relationship between nature and man, society, the state, the world community, having a planetary scale in scope, strength and intensity. These problems implicitly existed in part earlier, but mainly arose on present stage as a result of the negative course of human activities, natural processes and, to a large extent, as a consequence of globalization. In fact, global problems are not just the consequences of globalization, but the self-expression of this most complex phenomenon, which is not controlled in its main aspects.
The global problems of mankind or civilization were truly realized only in the second half of the 20th century, when the interdependence of countries and peoples, which caused globalization, increased sharply, and the unresolved problems manifested themselves especially clearly and destructively. In addition, the realization of some problems came only when mankind had accumulated a huge potential of knowledge that made these problems visible.
Some researchers distinguish the most important from global problems - the so-called imperatives - urgent, immutable, unconditional requirements, in this case - the dictates of the times. In particular, they call the economic, demographic, environmental, military and technological imperatives, considering them to be the main ones, and most of the other problems are derived from them.
Currently, a large number of problems of a different nature are classified as global. It is difficult to classify them because of mutual influence and simultaneous belonging to several spheres of life. Sufficiently conditionally global problems can be divided into:
Global problems of mankind:
Social character - the demographic imperative with its many components, the problems of interethnic confrontation, religious intolerance, education, healthcare, organized crime;
Socio-biological - problems of the emergence of new diseases, genetic safety, drug addiction;
Socio-political - problems of war and peace, disarmament, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, information security, terrorism;
Socio-economic character - problems of stability of the world economy, depletion of non-renewable resources, energy, poverty, employment, food shortages;
Spiritual and moral sphere - problems of falling general level the culture of the population, the spread of the cult of violence and pornography, the lack of demand for high examples of art, the lack of harmony in relations between generations, and many others.
A characteristic feature of the state of affairs with global problems is the growth of their number, the aggravation or manifestation of new, quite recently unknown threats.
Despite the difference in the theoretical positions of different schools, the idea of establishing a single socio-cultural community on our planet has received wide recognition. Its strengthening in science and public consciousness was facilitated by the awareness of the globalization of social and cultural processes in the modern world. Globality is understood as the universal nature of the vital problems of mankind, the solution of which depends on survival. The hallmarks of globality are:
The universal nature of the problems, their correlation with the interests of the world community;
Global character, that is, the importance for all regions and countries of the world;
The need to unite the efforts of all mankind to solve them, the impossibility of a solution by a group of countries;
Urgency and urgency, since refusal to decide, procrastination pose a real threat to social progress.
However, the globalization of social, cultural, economic and political processes in the modern world, along with the positive aspects, has given rise to a number of problems (their list reaches 30 or more), which are called "global problems of our time". The founder of the international research center “Club of Rome”, which studies the prospects for the development of mankind, A. Peccei notes: “The true problem of the human species at this stage of its evolution is that it turned out to be completely culturally incapable of keeping pace and fully adapting to those changes. that he himself brought into this world.
In the model of M. Mesarovich and E. Pestel "Humanity at the Turning Point" (1974), the world is described not as a homogeneous whole, but as a system of ten interconnected regions, the interaction between which is carried out through export-import and population migration.
The region is already a socio-cultural object, distinguished not only by economic and demographic criteria, but also taking into account values and cultural characteristics. Development management is provided. The authors of this model came to the conclusion that the world is threatened not global catastrophe, but a whole series of regional catastrophes that will begin much earlier than the founders of the Club of Rome predicted.
In the 1980s, the leaders of the Club of Rome began to move on to putting forward various programs for the transformation of social systems, the improvement of political institutions of power, changes in the "cultural ethos", i.e. actively engaged in the problems of the theory of modernization.
Geopolitical and socio-economic aspects of globalization. After the Second World War, global interaction was built on the basis of a balanced geopolitical system of the "three worlds". This system did not allow the dominance of any of them, provided a certain harmony of interests and stability. The unifying idea of the system, which contributed to its democratization, was the elimination of socio-economic backwardness and poverty throughout the world as the main task of the world community. This task was put at the forefront of its central organization - the UN. Thus, prerequisites were created for the harmonious development of the world community, for the weakening and prevention of confrontation between the rich "North" and the poor "South". The Soviet Union played a key role in the creation of this system.
Of course, the developed capitalist countries dominated the world market as a whole. It was they who determined the nature and rules of international economic relations, which poorly took into account the interests of other countries. Therefore, at the initiative of developing countries, the world community began to actively discuss the issue of establishing a New International Economic Order that would eliminate neo-colonial relations and help overcome socio-economic backwardness and poverty. This was resolutely opposed by the developed capitalist countries and transnational corporations, which felt threatened by their unreasonably high incomes.
The scale of income of the "golden billion" (15% of the inhabitants of developed countries) only due to non-equivalent exchange is colossal. The protectionism of the labor market of industrialized countries costs the "third world", according to the UN, 500 billion dollars a year. As stated in the Davos report in 1994, industrialized countries employ 350 million people with an average wage of $18 an hour. At the same time, China, the CIS countries, India and Mexico have a similarly skilled workforce potential of 1,200 million people at an average price below $2 (in many industries below $1 per hour). Opening up the labor market for this workforce, in line with Western-proclaimed economic human rights, would mean savings of nearly $6 billion an hour!
Raw materials and energy, which on average account for two-thirds of the cost of goods, are bought up mainly from third world countries at fabulous prices. low prices. They are forced to do this by huge external debts and the military-political pressure of the West. The prices take into account only the labor to extract irreplaceable resources from the storerooms of the Earth, and not the real cost. The result is not only a robbery of future generations, but also a careless squandering of what should belong to everyone, but goes to a few. According to UN statistics, the "golden billion" consumes about 75% of the planet's irreplaceable resources and emits about 70% of all waste products into the world's oceans, atmosphere, and soil. At the same time, the gap between the first and third worlds is constantly deepening.
At the end of the 1980s, the geopolitical system of the three worlds collapsed, as the former countries of the socialist community and the USSR embarked on the path of modernization with a unilateral reorientation to the role of subordinate partners of the developed capitalist countries. Under the declaration of a multipolar world (new centers of power), humanity begins to move towards a unipolar world. Even US sociologists call the theory of a “multipolar world” a comforting tale, since such a world is beneficial to America, which deals with disunited subjects. international relations.
The goal of the "new world order" is to establish the omnipotence of the "big seven" over the rest of the world. At the same time, Russia is considered by Western, especially American politicians, as part of this "rest of the world", subject to enslavement and control, and not as a "strong strategic partner".
Let's take a look at the facts. According to the World Bank, in the 1990s, the world gross domestic product (GDP) increased annually by an average of 2.2%, and industrial production - by 2.3%. At the same time, China (11.6% and 16.3%, respectively) and India (6% and 7.2%) demonstrated the highest development rates among large states. Among the developed countries, the US economy developed most successfully (3% and 4.3%). Russia's performance was among the worst: annually, GDP decreased by 7.7%, and industrial production - by 9.3%. In terms of GNP, Russia is inferior not only to the G7 countries, China, India, but also South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia. According to forecasts, Australia, Turkey, Iran, Argentina will overtake Russia in the next decade. In terms of the production of GDP per capita in dollar terms, the Russian Federation ranks 96th in the world. It accounts for less than 0.01% of the world market capitalization (investments in other countries). Such failures in economic policy were not known to any government in the 20th century.
Transnational corporations and the states protecting their interests now have real opportunity to establish its complete economic and political dominance in the world, to subordinate its evolution to its own interests.
New global trends are reflected in the works of sociologists and geopoliticians. Many scientists recognize the correctness of S. Huntington, who back in 1993 in his work “The Clash of Civilizations” stated that the next century will be the era of the clash of two civilizations, conventionally called “the West” and “Not the West”. He draws the line delimiting them as follows: the border of Russia with Finland and further with the Baltic countries, then this line separates Belarus, most of Ukraine from Western civilization, further in the south it cuts off Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia from the West. It is easy to see that the line dividing the two civilizations exactly coincides with the western border of the former socialist camp. It is along this fault line that, according to Huntington, the global confrontation of the 21st century will take place. Only the leader of "Not the West" is now becoming not Russia, but other countries.
Huntington predicts a relative weakening of the West. Signs of this are the economic rise of China, the population explosion in the Islamic world, the effectiveness of socio-cultural models of behavior and organizational culture of Japanese firms, etc.
Comparing the economic opportunities of the two civilizations, we see that over the past 50 years, the gross domestic product of the West has declined from 64% in 1950 to 50% in the late 90s. According to the forecasts of economists and sociologists, in 20 years China will move to the 1st place in the world, the USA will move to the 2nd place, and the subsequent places will be occupied by Japan, India and Indonesia. Today, there is not a single American in the top ten leading banks in the world, only three American transnational corporations: General Motors, Ford, Exxon - belong to the world industrial elite, occupying 4th, 7th and 9th places, respectively. in the world ranking table, and Japanese transnational corporations top this list.
It is these emerging symptoms of economic weakening that are pushing the United States and its strategic allies to use force. The main step in this direction is the expansion of NATO to the East, the withdrawal from the indefinite ABM treaty, the demonstration of force in Iraq, Libya and Yugoslavia.
The main focus of the UN's activities is also changing. Instead of an organization directing the efforts of the world community to overcome backwardness and poverty, they are trying to turn the UN into a kind of world policeman. Increasingly, NATO is coming to the fore, replacing the UN as the main body that determines the world order.
As a justification for the refusal of the UN from its proclaimed goals, the argument is given that the limited natural and ecological potential of the Earth will not allow developing countries to reach the level of development and consumption of the "golden billion".
The growing population of the planet remains a serious global problem. In the autumn of 1999, the 6 billion milestone was overcome and the annual population growth remains at the level of 3%. Such exponential rates mean a 922% increase in population in the new century. It is obvious that the resources of the planet are simply not enough for such a large number of people. Moreover, the population growth rate is higher in the poorest countries and regions, where not only social processes such as marginalization, the growth of drug addiction, emigration to other countries and regions are activated, but centers of international terrorism are also being formed, and weapons of mass destruction are being developed.
Thus, the globalization of socio-economic and political processes is extremely multifaceted and makes its way through contradictions, the aggravation of which can destroy humanity.
Globalization of cultural processes. The aggravation of global problems reflects the crisis of culture associated with the gap in the cognitive and value orientations of human activity. Mass consciousness lags far behind the awareness of the global scale of the consequences of human activity. Mass ecological culture is especially low in third world countries. Mankind has come to a point where new values and principles of relationships must be found, designed to become regulators of the economic, social, and political activities of the peoples of the Earth.
The globalization of culture is a contradictory process of the struggle between two trends: the development of national, regional cultures, religious denominations and their integration, internationalization.
The formation of a single world market, the standardization of lifestyles in different countries create the prerequisites for the unification of culture, and given the political and economic dominance of a certain group of countries - the dominance of the mentality and values of the West. However, attempts to impose one's sociocultural values often lead to confrontation and increase the closedness of society. Laws are being passed to protect against the destructive influence of a foreign culture. These defensive reactions are not always progressive, but they are well founded.
For example, the influential US magazine "Foreign Policy" publishes a program article by Professor D. Rothkopf, an employee of the H. Kissinger Foundation. It is called: “Why not glorify cultural imperialism?” Rothkopf sets the following task: “The central task foreign policy The United States in the information age must become a victory in the struggle for world information flows ... We are not only the only military superpower, but also an information superpower. In economic and political interests The United States to ensure that the world moves towards a single language and that it becomes English, that a single network of telecommunications, security, legal norms and standards is created, and that they are all American; so that common life values mature and that they are American. We need a single global culture like the American one, and then there will be no unnecessary religious and ethnic conflicts ... Americans should not deny the fact that of all peoples in world history, our society is the most just, the most tolerant, the most progressive, and therefore it is the best model for the future ".
That is why the governments of many countries resist the cultural expansion of the West. Singapore and Thailand do not allow pornographic films to be shown on television, even at night. In all Islamic countries it is forbidden to have satellite dishes. Television broadcasts are tightly controlled in China and Vietnam. France, where the rate of showing foreign films cannot be more than 40%, is resisting active legislation of the American expansion in the field of electronic media. Sociologists in Western European countries note the growth of anti-American sentiments, primarily due to the Americans' lack of knowledge of European culture and their disdainful attitude towards it.
As a form of dissemination of Western values, the Internet, the global computer network, was created in the last stages of the Cold War. Since the West itself was the source of production and distribution of network technologies, it also retains control in this process. base language network is English. It is known that the language to a large extent predetermines what will be expressed in it, through it the way of thinking, the way of life are transmitted. In addition to Anglophony, the "world wide web" imposes other important features of the Western model. The one who defines the norms and establishes the rules of the network exchange of information receives huge advantages over those who passively participate in the network. Unprecedented databases of information are accumulating in think tanks without much effort.
A particular danger in the context of information globalization is the change in the value orientations of young people. Geeks live in virtual reality. This is not only about cyberpunks - people for whom the meaning of life has become immersion in the worlds of computer simulations and "vagrancy" on the Internet. Pornography, advertising, video clips, a virtual church, a cyber cafe, and so on create a special spiritual world that leads away from the sad realities of life. Computer and other technologies are actively changing the meaning of the consumption of material goods and services. Advertising creates the image of a product. The status of a product is determined not by its real properties and labor costs, but by an advertising image.
The virtualization of the economy has also captured the money. It is impossible to immediately claim all deposits in banks and all insurance payments, because banks are solvency simulators. They do not have money available - material substitutes for goods. Attempts to purchase real goods for 225 billion cash dollars walking around the planet (60 billion dollars in Russia) would inevitably lead to the collapse of the US economy. It turns out that the rest of the world has provided the United States with a long-term and interest-free loan for a gigantic sum.
Income from trade transactions in the network amounted to 240 million dollars in 1994, 350 million in 1995, and 1 billion dollars in 1998. Indeed, information networks, including the Internet, make it possible to transfer huge amounts of information, hundreds of billions of dollars, etc., to anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds. However, the cream of this achievement of civilization is being skimmed off by international financial structures.
The World Wide Web, as a cultural and ideological weapon of the West, involves the imposition of its values. On the other hand, the principle of interactivity presupposes a certain share of equality and issues of information transfer, so the West may not receive an entirely adequate answer in other languages.
Sociologists believe that the importance of such important factors of global confrontation for the 20th century as the type of socio-political system, class ideology will decrease, and the role of ethnic, religious, civilizational ones will increase. One thing is certain - the cultural unification of mankind in the foreseeable future is not expected.
Strategy of sustainable development of modern civilization. The term "sustainable development" became widespread at the turn of the 1990s. Sociologists, economists, and ecologists used it to designate a type of development aimed at maintaining peace on the planet, preventing regional conflicts, preserving the natural environment and improving the quality of life, and eliminating glaring disproportions in living standards, education, and culture.
The concept of sustainable development has received international recognition in international conference UN Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro at the level of Heads of State and Government (1992). Scientists and politicians have come to the conclusion that overcoming the existing and growing social inequality on a global scale is a necessary prerequisite for changing the nature of the relationship between society and nature, for the transition of mankind to sustainable development as a special type of development of world civilization, which should ensure the preservation of conditions habitation of human society and their further improvement. Ideas for sustainable global development are not new. According to the Russian sociologist V.K. Levashov, they can be found even in the works of the classics of Marxism.
The concept assumes the following directions of activity of the world community.
In the economic sphere: a reasonable combination of state, public and private property, contributing to economic efficiency and social development; demonopolization and free market competition; the production of food and industrial products in sufficient quantities to meet the basic needs of all the inhabitants of the planet; sustainable economic growth based on the integration of the demographic factor into economic strategies; eradication of poverty, fair and non-discriminatory distribution of benefits from economic growth.
In the social sphere: expanding access to knowledge, technology, education, medical care for all segments of the population; strengthening solidarity, social partnership and cooperation at all levels; strengthening the role of the family, community and civil society in achieving social peace and stability; caring for the elderly, sick and children; development of a public network of educational institutions.
In the field of information and culture development: avoidance of isolation, observance of religious and cultural pluralism; stimulation of the development of science and technology; widespread dissemination of best practices through the media; promotion of information resources to a priority place over material and energy resources.
In the political sphere: wide participation of civil society in the development and implementation of decisions that determine the functioning and development prospects; state policy aimed at overcoming social and ethnic antagonism; ensuring the freedom and equality of all people before the law; a favorable and rational political and legal structure that guarantees the development of democracy.
In the field of international relations: the struggle for peace, the prevention of regional conflicts, the solution of emerging problems by political means; active assistance of the UN in peacekeeping activities; ensuring partnership of all countries on the basis of bilateral and multilateral cooperation; providing comprehensive assistance to underdeveloped countries.
In solving environmental problems: ensuring the co-evolution of society and nature; scientific and theoretical development and practical implementation of methods for the effective use natural resources; ensuring environmental safety of production and consumption; development of alternative types of energy production and waste-free technologies; improvement of administrative and international legal methods of nature protection; constant concern for the conservation of species diversity of the biosphere; development ecological culture population.
Unfortunately, many principles and plans for sustainable development remain declarations due to social inertia, lack of financial resources, boycott by the developed capitalist countries. Industrial civilization represented by transnational corporations and political institutions of developed countries has created a social order that is characterized by a high degree of social security and socio-political stability within the Western countries, and at the same time resource exploitation of poor countries. The transition to sustainable development involves, for example, the forgiveness of most of the debt of developing countries, which today amounts to an astronomical amount of several trillion dollars.
Gallup conducted a survey of public opinion around the world to find out in what ways industrialized countries are ready to help developing countries embark on a path of sustainable development. The proposal on environmental education turned out to be the most acceptable. The second is the provision of technological assistance. Debt relief is in last place. Only Ireland and Norway strongly supported this measure.
Thus, globalization and awareness of the inevitability of the sustainable development of modern civilization are developing extremely contradictory. But there is no alternative to sustainable development. Either - awareness of the need to combine efforts to save the planet, and the transition to resource-saving technologies, birth control, equalization of social conditions for development, or - the destruction of mankind.
The twentieth century was characterized by a significant acceleration of sociocultural change. A gigantic shift has taken place in the “nature-society-man” system, where an important role is now played by culture, understood as an intellectual, ideal, and artificially created material environment, which not only ensures the existence and comfort of a person in the world, but also creates a number of problems . Another important change in this system was the ever-increasing pressure of people and society on nature. For the 20th century The world's population has grown from 1.4 billion to 6 billion, while over the previous 19 centuries of our era it increased by 1.2 billion people. Serious changes are taking place in the social structure of the population of our planet. Currently, only 1 billion people (the so-called "golden billion") live in developed countries and fully enjoy the achievements of modern culture, and 5 billion people from developing countries suffering from hunger, disease, poor education, form a "global pole of poverty" that opposes the "pole of prosperity" . Moreover, the trends in fertility and mortality make it possible to predict that by 2050-2100, when the population of the Earth reaches 10 billion people. (Table 18) (according to modern concepts, this is the maximum number of people that our planet can feed), the population of the "pole of poverty" will reach 9 billion people, and the population of the "pole of well-being" will remain unchanged. At the same time, each person living in developed countries exerts 20 times more pressure on nature than a person from developing countries.
Table 18
World population (million people)
Source: Yatsenko N. E. Explanatory dictionary of social science terms. SPb., 1999. S. 520.
Sociologists associate the globalization of social and cultural processes and the emergence of world problems with the presence of limits to the development of the world community.
Sociologists-globalists believe that the limits of the world are determined by the very finiteness and fragility of nature. These limits are called external (Table 19).
For the first time, the problem of external limits to growth was raised in a report to the Club of Rome (a non-governmental international organization established in 1968) "Limits to Growth", prepared under the leadership of D. Meadows.
The authors of the report, using a computer model of global changes for calculations, came to the conclusion that the unlimited growth of the economy and the pollution caused by it by the middle of the 21st century. lead to economic disaster. To avoid it, the concept of "global balance" with nature was proposed with a constant population and "zero" industrial growth.
According to other globalist sociologists (E. Laszlo, J. Bierman), the limiters of the economy and the sociocultural development of mankind are not external, but internal limits, the so-called sociopsychological limits, which manifest themselves in the subjective activity of people (see Table 19).
Table 19 Limits of human development
Supporters of the concept of internal limits to growth believe that the solution to global problems lies in the ways of increasing the responsibility of politicians who make important decisions, and improving social forecasting. The most reliable tool for solving global problems, according to E. Toffler, should be considered the knowledge and ability to withstand the ever-increasing pace of social change, as well as the delegation of resources and responsibility to those floors, levels where the relevant problems are solved. Of great importance is the formation and dissemination of new universal values and norms, such as the security of people and societies, of all mankind; freedom of activity of people both within the state and outside it; responsibility for the conservation of nature; availability of information; respect for public opinion by the authorities; humanization of relations between people, etc.
Global problems can be solved only by the joint efforts of state and public, regional and world organizations. All world problems can be differentiated into three categories (Table 20).
The most dangerous challenge to mankind in the XX century. there were wars. Only two world wars, which lasted more than 10 years in total, claimed about 80 million human lives and caused material damage of more than 4 trillion 360 billion dollars (Table 21).
Table 20
Global problems
Table 21
The most important indicators of the First and Second World Wars
Since the Second World War there have been about 500 armed conflicts. More than 36 million people died in local battles, most of them were civilians.
And in just 55 centuries (5.5 thousand years), mankind has survived 15 thousand wars (so that people lived in peace for no more than 300 years). More than 3.6 billion people died in these wars. Moreover, with the development of weapons in combat clashes, an increasing number of people (including civilians) died. Losses especially increased with the beginning of the use of gunpowder (Table 22).
Table 22
Nevertheless, the arms race continues to this day. Only after the Second World War, military spending (for 1945-1990) amounted to more than 20 trillion dollars. Today, military spending is more than $800 billion a year, that is, $2 million per minute. More than 60 million people serve or work in the armed forces of all states. 400 thousand scientists are engaged in the improvement and development of new weapons - this research absorbs 40% of all R & D funds, or 10% of all human expenditure.
Currently, the environmental problem comes first, which includes such unresolved issues as:
land desertification. Currently, deserts occupy about 9 million square meters. km. Every year, deserts "capture" more than 6 million hectares of land developed by man. A total of 30 million sq. km of inhabited territory, which is 20% of all land;
deforestation. Over the past 500 years, 2/3 of forests have been cleared by man, and 3/4 of forests have been destroyed in the entire history of mankind. Every year, 11 million hectares of forest land disappear from the face of our planet;
pollution of reservoirs, rivers, seas and oceans;
"the greenhouse effect;
ozone holes.
As a result of the combined action of all these factors, the productivity of land biomass has already decreased by 20%, and some animal species have become extinct. Mankind is forced to take measures to protect nature. Other global problems are no less acute.
Do they have solutions? The solution to these acute problems of the modern world may lie on the paths of scientific and technological progress, socio-political reforms and changes in the relationship between man and the environment (Table 23).
Table 23 Ways to solve global problems
Scientists under the auspices of the Club of Rome are engaged in the search for a conceptual solution to global problems. The second report (1974) of this non-governmental organization (“Humanity at the Crossroads”, authors M. Mesarevich and E. Pestel) spoke of the “organic growth” of the world economy and culture as a single organism, where each part plays its role and uses that share of common goods, which correspond to its role and ensure the further development of this part in the interests of the whole.
In 1977, the third report to the Club of Rome was published under the title "International Order Revisited". Its author J. Tinbergen saw a way out in the creation of global institutions that would control global socio-cultural and economic processes. According to the scientist, it is necessary to create a world treasury, a world food administration, a world administration for technological development and other institutions that would resemble ministries in their functions; on a conceptual level, such a system presupposes the existence of a world government.
In subsequent works by the French globalists M. Guernier "The Third World: Three Quarters of the World" (1980), B. Granotier "For a World Government" (1984) and others, the idea of a global center that governs the world was further developed.
A more radical position in relation to global governance is taken by the international public movement of mondialists (International Registration of World Citizens, IRWC), which was created in 1949 and advocates the creation of a world state.
In 1989, the report of the UN International Commission on Environment and Development chaired by G. H. Brundtland "Our Common Future" created the concept of "sustainable development", which "satisfies the needs of the present, but does not jeopardize the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
In the 1990s the idea of a world government is giving way to projects of global cooperation among states with the vital role of the UN. This concept was formulated in the report of the Commission on Global Governance and Cooperation of the United Nations "Our Global Neighborhood" (1996).
Nowadays, the concept of “global civil society” is gaining more and more importance. It means all the people of the Earth who share universal human values, who actively solve global problems, especially where national governments are not capable of doing this.
Questions for self-control
List possible ways of development of society.
Name the main theories of progress.
Indicate the main, essential features of the Marxist view of the development of society.
What is a Formative Approach?
How does W. Rostow's approach differ from the Marxist one?
List the main stages of economic growth in the theory of W. Rostow.
Describe an industrial society.
What approaches exist in the theory of post-industrial society?
What are the signs of a post-industrial society (according to D. Bell)?
How has its social structure changed (according to D. Bell)?
List the features of Z. Brzezinski's technotronic society and compare them with the features of D. Bell's post-industrial culture.
How does O. Toffler's approach to the study of the "third wave" society differ from the approaches of his predecessors?
How do proponents of cyclical theories see social life?
What is a civilizational approach?
What is the essence of the theory of N. Ya. Danilevsky?
What is common and what is the difference between the theories of N. Ya. Danilevsky and O. Spengler?
What new things did A. Toynbee introduce into the theory of "cyclism"?
What are the main criteria for the development of society?
What criterion is used in their theories by N. Berdyaev and K. Jaspers?
What is the essence of the theory of "long waves" N. D. Kondratiev?
Compare the wave theories of N. Yakovlev and A. Yanov.
What are the criteria for fluctuations in social life in the theories of A. Schlesinger, N. McCloskey and D. Zahler?
What is the essence of P. Sorokin's concept of changing socio-cultural supersystems? How did R. Ingelhart supplement it?
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